


Lament of the Elder Kitten

by Shadaki



Series: Uxie's Secret Histories [3]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pokemon the Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back
Genre: Ancient History, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Did you know dinosaurs predated grassland biomes?, Entropy, Existential Angst, Extinction, Gen, I've spent way too much time researching the history of life for this, Immortality, Memories, Minor Character Death, Natural History, Post-Canon, Self-Reflection, Which does mean this is required to have a happy ending, Worldbuilding, extrapolation of canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:27:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25860562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadaki/pseuds/Shadaki
Summary: As the ancestor of all Pokémon, the 500 million+ year old Myuu has seen (and played a part in) most of natural history. Following the events of Myuutsuu no Gyakushuu, The Mythical Pokémon Myuu finds himself contemplating the implications of having a clone and what it means for his own future. So starts a journey down memory lane as he flies towards a friend to whom he can speak with.This work is written such that it can stand alone or be part of the series it is included in (and vice-versa).
Series: Uxie's Secret Histories [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1213704
Kudos: 12





	1. Leaving Myuutsuu

**Author's Note:**

> After two years its finally ready to start posting. Thank God. This story takes place directly after the events of the Japanese version of the first movie, Myuutsuu no Gyakushuu, rather than the dumbed down international release (if one wants a reminder of what happened, searching rigelatin copycat will bring you to a site with the transcript of everything but the japanese theatrical Origin of Mewtwo) As such, this story will be referring to the two psychics that appeared in that movie by Myuu and Myuutsuu, and use the gendering from said movie (or at least the gendering for Mew the archaeologists use in the sub I had found) in order to help keep their Japanese characterization in mind.
> 
> Note: underlined words/phrases/concepts/etc are metaphysically connected to the powerful being speaking/thinking them (By default, these are things related to Myuu. Think: emphasized words of power. 
> 
> (Technically speaking, my other story On the Origin of Swirlix could work as a prologue, being written with this story in mind, but need not be read first)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Consider the following: At the beginning of Myuutsuu No Gyakushuu, the conversation between Myuutsuu and Dr Fuji occurs. You may remember the psychic questioning the nature of his existence, and seemingly getting upset with either the answers he received or that he was feeling ignored or some combination as such. If you look deeper, something strange happens. Lets go through it:
> 
> Dr. Fuji: Wonderful! Mewtwo has been completed.
> 
> Myuutsuu: Myuutsuu?
> 
> Dr. Fuji: That's you. We created you as the strongest Pokémon in the world!
> 
> The first words spoken specifically to Myuutsuu, once he's awakened, include identifying who exactly is responsible for his existence. Looking at how the conversation continues, it is as if Dr Fuji had not done so.
> 
> *Dr. Fuji points to the carving of Mew*
> 
> Dr. Fuji: Yes, that's the Pokémon which is said to be the most rare of all Pokémon: Myuu.
> 
> Myuutsuu: Myuu? Is that my parent? My papa? My mama?
> 
> Dr. Fuji: You can say that, but not really. You've been made stronger based on Myuu.
> 
> Myuutsuu: Who is this? If neither my papa nor mama, then was it God? Did God create me?
> 
> (I'm copying this text from elsewhere, but it is noted on the site that the word used in the original japanese is Kami, rather than that for a monotheistic deity)
> 
> Dr. Fuji: In the world the only ones that can create new life is humans and God.
> 
> (in the fourth episode of pre-released audio drama written by Shudo that acts as an extended version of this scene, he continues by clarifying "Humans are probably the only ones who can create life in glass tubes.")  
> Myuutsuu: Who did this? Humans made me?
> 
> What follows is the scientists congratulating themselves and then Myuutsuu questioning why he exists and destroying the lab. We see here that Myuutsuu at first either didn't register the initial statement that they made him, or simply was unwilling to accept it. Myuutsuu is a super-genius with an already fully functioning and mature brain. Perhaps then the latter scenario is more plausible. That the extended audio drama has him get angry and start attacking immediately after being told this ("All of you? You humans...made me...a Pokémon...? Me? Who am I? Where is this place? Why was I born? (Starts to attack the laboratory)"), seems to support that conclusion. But...where could he have possibly gotten any preconceived notion that humans creating him is a bad thing, or that originating from parents or God/Kami is normal? It couldn't have been from the scientists. And even if the latter is from remaining memories of what Aitwo had said about parents and God/Kami, she never suggested anything negative about the alternative. However, there is another possible source: Mewtwo Returns showed that he inherited some form of genetic memories. Perhaps other kinds of thoughts could have been passed down too....

> _"Because it can use all kinds of moves, many scientists believe Mew to be the ancestor of Pokémon." - The Pokédex  
>  "He's surrounded in various legends."/"Is he an angel or a devil? He might even just be a whim. " _ [ _-Team Rocket Archeologists_ ](https://dai.ly/x327h8i)

The World of Pokémon is a highly biodiverse place. The vast multitudes of magical creatures that inhabit it come in just as numerous quantities of shapes and sizes. They are beings of friendship, competition – and to humans, mystery. While humans and Pokémon have lived side by side for as long as any person can remember, it is only recently that modern scientists have begun trying to understand the fantastic beings that share their world. One of the greatest mysteries to be encountered is the nature of the origin of Pokémon: For there is growing evidence that (at least where non man-made examples are concerned) all species of Pokémon tested appear to share a common origin in a Pokémon thought by most to be only a myth: Myuu.

While there is much that scholars are uncertain of, some properties of this mythical Pokémon are agreed to likely be true. All sources depict the creature as being loosely feline in morphology, albeit apparently bipedal. Its legs and feet are larger than its forelimbs. Out from the back of its hips is known to be a long(at least equal in height to its upper-body) snakelike tail ending with a bulbous tip. Those traditions giving the Pokémon a color at all speak of it being pinkish in hue or close to white. All claim it to have vast cosmic –probably psychic – powers. Paradoxically, for all that it is believed that the Pokémon is (at the very least close to) immortal, most are uncertain if Myuu currently exists.

Unnoticed by all, a large collection of Pokémon levitated over the sea, each surrounded by the characteristic glow of a telekinetic grip. And leading this group were two distinct beings – one tall and one short - that both fit those properties entirely. As the pair flew towards the coast with the larger psychic’s living creations, the smaller psychic found himself lost in thought.

The clones’ existence troubled Myuu. They were (with exception to his own copy) identical to their templates down to the genome. If not for their psychic signatures, he may not have been able to tell that there was anything different about them. And he had seen – not seen, _experienced_ – for himself that each was close enough to its counterpart that a battle would be a mirror match. But they weren’t his. The only contribution Myuu could claim to their existence was the source of the DNA of the first – apparently a fallen eyelash. New forms of life not due to the Kami of New Species: It bothered him, scared him, even, and he knew it shouldn’t. And in such matters, there was only one being still around that he could turn to. 

As they approached the coast, the smaller psychic drifted towards the larger and pointed. “See that direction?”

“I do."

“If you keep flying that-a-way, past this upcoming mountain range, you’ll reach a really really big mountain. There’s an island at the top. It’s got delicious fruits and water, and it’s almost completely inaccessible to humans.”

“That sounds exactly like what I’m looking for.” 

It was, of course. Myuu had long since begun to shape that place for almost exactly the same purpose. Another thing that would be taken.

“Can you carry everyone there yourself?” 

The monster. No. _The youth_ scoffed. “Of course I can. Is the time showing us the home you are giving us so banal you’d rather spend it elsewhere?” 

“No! I just have someone I need to talk to.”

His counterpart glared at him. Did he know that Myuu now feared him? What he represented? It was unlikely. His mental defenses were some of the greatest in the world. Only the cerebral triplets could read him, and they didn’t count. 

It didn’t mean they couldn’t one day be friends, though. Maybe? 

“But I can come later, if you want. Help set things up!”

“That won’t be necessary. I can handle it myself."

“Oh.” 

And so the feeling of dread remained.

Myuu sighed, then let go of his telekinetic hold on the clones. And they fell not a nanometer as Myuutsuu effortlessly picked up the slack. His confidence in his powers was not undeserved at all.

The ancient waved.

“Good luck! And ta-ta for now!” 

Having assured itself that Myuutsuu could carry the clones on his own, and given the clone directions to a possible home, Myuu turned to depart east. It was true that Myuu could have arrived at his destination instantly with a simple Teleport, but he wanted time to collect his thoughts and to reminisce. Where he was headed, it wouldn’t do to arrive in his typical scatterbrained state. 

It was less than a minute of traveling along the coast before he approached the human structure where most of the natural-born mortals from the island had been returned to. Not just returned. No. Everything had been restored to a state as if nothing on the island had occurred. With exception of those Myuutsuu was flying away with, everyone up to just over the distance of the building away from the island had had their memories of recent events erased. Under the gaze of second sight, Myuu watched those within begin to awaken. He even observed the faint psychic dissonance in many beings there characteristic of resurrection. The twice living had, Myuu perceived, been restored with tears from the sea in which they drowned. Myuutsuu had been extremely thorough. It was impressive, thought the immortal, and utterly dwarfed his own restoration of the human child in scope. In all his years he had never attempted anything of the size and complexity of this last action in such a short span of time. Could he have pulled this off himself so instantaneously like his distorted copy did? He didn’t know. And he didn’t like what that implied.

As he began to pass the building, a human boy emerged with a Pikachu. It was, he realized, _the_ human child. Following a sudden urge, the psychic glanced at him through othersight. He saw that the twi…thrice living (how peculiar) child’s already larger than average aura was blossoming. There was quite likely a history there of heroic resolve – of Fighting spirit – responsible for the current extent. Myuu held little doubt that his actions on the island preceding his second(!) death had some role to play. It was possible, Myuu mused, that the infusion of life force from those crying over his passing had pushed things further. And the non-human mortals _did_ cry. All of them - even those the boy had no connection to. After not reacting to their **_ancestor_** being attacked. ‘Why?’ thought the Psychic, ‘why him and not me? Why didn’t…oh.’

 _Yanma buzzed happily as they fled their ancestor. Food was plentiful here in the Tree of Beginning, and so all living within had excess energy to spare. There was much time to explore or simply to_ play _, and so that was what the mortals did. Life is wonderful here. And as Myuu flew he noticed a slightly injured kabuto – her dome scuffed and left foreleg slightly askew - looking upward at him. Even a small injury could be enough to make for easy prey from armaldo. Normally, the demand for survival of the fittest meant that the kabuto would die – but not in this place. Not in this sanctuary. And even if they were elsewhere, Myuu couldn’t bear to see one of his descendants – his children – so harmed. And besides, what was she doing so far from her family anyway? Myuu dropped to the ground, Transformed into a chansey, and let loose a Heal Pulse. The kitten returned then to its default form._

_“Are you feeling better?” asked the immortal._

_“Body better.”_

_The psychic turned his head until he had rotated his entire body 180_ º _degrees, getting an amused chirp out of the youth. “What are you doing all the way out here?”_

 _“Exploring. Strong water pull away. Hit rock.”_

_“Silly Kabuto, you’re too young to go exploring alone. How can your parents or cast make sure you’re okay if you wander off by yourself? Who would help you if I wasn’t here?”_

_The youth sniffled. “Others here. Saw many tangela and tangrowth. Small tangelo fell and other tangela and tangrowth help tangela. Why no… why no help kabuto?”_

_“If you and your cast were on a coast eating berries, and you saw a being that looks like this-” Myuu transformed into a swinub for a moment before turning back “lying many Kabutops steps away, what would you do?”_

_The prehistoric creature looked down and murmured “Not know. Maybe dangerous. Keep eating?”_

_“What if instead it was one of your siblings?”_

_Kabuto stood tall on its legs. “Go help!”_

_“Exactly. Minds only have so much space to fit all sorts of things. Me and my friend Mesprit who knows all about emotions and stuff figured out that there’s a limit to how many others someone can care about. This means everyone has to mentally choose caring about those they consider close to them over those that aren’t. Mesprit’s sibling Uxie called the group of other beings someone empathizes with their ‘mankeysphere’ since a new species called mankey can sometimes fit their whole colony of fifty to sixty!”_

_“That lots!”_

_“Yeah! And there’s another new species outside the tree called humans can fit at least twice as many in theirs as mankey can. I’m not sure why mortals need that many but Mesprit is super-duper excited about it._

_“My point is they didn’t know you well enough to recognize that you were hurt or that they should care enough to risk helping.”_

_“…How make care?”_

_“You can make more care to help you by being friends with them or helping them yourself. The more beings that you’re close to, the more will want to help. You should get strong enough to wander from your cast before going off on your own to make friends though. Maybe you can start with everyone in your cast? They’re probably worried about you anyway. Do you want to fly on my back?”_

_“okay.”_

_Myuu dropped to the ground and transformed into an altaria. After the youth crawled onto him, he checked her stability before ascending into the air. As they traveled to the kabuto’s cast, Myuu began telling the child about the various species outside the tree. Life, he thought, is wonderful. _

Today, few knew of his existence: It had been a long time (had it really been millennia?) since he had publicly interacted with mortals. Both out of fear of humans and a desire to give mortals space to grow on their own, Myuu had faded into the background until he was just a myth. And of those who knew of him, few put him in their mankeyspheres. Aside from the ever-busier remaining Kami, those who cared about him were almost entirely made up of those living in The Tree or a few of those living in his favored stomping grounds in the Amazon. But those mortals treated him almost without exception like a fun grandparent that could be trusted to protect them, rather than a friend who could rely on them. He was largely without peers. And now he wasn’t sure if he’d ever have a chance to gain them. He had grown distant. If anything happened to him, so few would ever know. Perhaps taking a route without distractions was a bad idea. It would be better to take a scenic route, so that he could see more of his creations before arriving at his destination. With that, Myuu ascended in altitude and turned towards land.


	2. Landfall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was debating whether to combine sections in larger chapters or not but have decided it would probably be better not to, simply as each section was written so as to be self contained.

Short minutes went by as Myuu flew shoreward through receding clouds. Randomly reflected sunlight illuminated the psychic, and moisture occasionally stuck to his body. It took not long at all for him to pass from the ocean and onto land. He did not put much weight into symbolism, but this act was at times an exception. As ever when doing so, he couldn’t help but reminisce about the efforts involved in allowing his descendants to do the same. How long had it been since the first mortal forays onto living on land were made? Many continental configurations ago, certainly.

_It had been an age before many of the kami even existed. Before the birds, before the Tapu, before dreams and nightmares. Even Celebi did not extend that far back. They were a (relatively) close group in those days. They swam and ran and flew and laughed and played – and worked. Each of them existed with a part to play in creation. It went without saying that the best one of them all went to him. He was Arcy’s de-facto protégé, a generalist who could master whatever he put his mind to. His was the task of drawing forth from his infinitely faceted potential new and vibrant forms of life to populate the world, and he was beloved by his peers for it. All had watched his explosions of creativity, occasionally giving requests or suggestions or advice on mortal species, and it had been one of the roles of Zygarde, the newest addition to their ranks, to keep his outbursts semi-organized. _

_Kyogre’s realm teamed with life. Niches were being filled at every depth. They were found in oceans and lakes and rivers. And yet still large portions of the world remained empty of Myuu’s spawn. All (except Kyogre whenever it was awake) looked forward to the day when he would figure out how to spread his descendants into Groudon’s domain. Groudon itself (whenever _it _was active) would go back and forth between refusing any more ‘water filled abominations’ in its territory and making frequent internal mental uproars asking whoever may be reading its thoughts whether Myuu had solved it yet._

_Eventually, when new ideas for niches began to slow, Myuu had resolved to focus on that project. It had taken many mortal lifetimes, and support from his friends. The cerebral triplets, even as they were finally managing to handle the load from the ever increasing population, had diverted some of their attention to assisting his mind - giving mental nudges in the right direction or cheering him up when things failed or keeping him focused and reinvigorating his determination when he started burning out. Through twists and turns and false starts and dead ends, he ultimately found it._

_Myuu had been so proud when he had first gotten it to work. It had opened up so many new diverse niches to fill, the possibilities had been endless. He had gained a renewed fervor. And ages later, when Celebi was (chronologically) young, he was even prouder when he found another, more generalized, solution to bring even more complicated species out of the water. Life had been so very wonderful then._

Unfilled niches had gotten so much rarer over time. The time when a thousand could be found and filled a year, let alone a century, had long since passed. Myuu doubted it would ever come again. It was so very rare now for him to have reason to alter life into new forms or create them ex nihilo. And now…

Perhaps, thought Myuu as he began drifting over grassland, this crossing over at the start of a new journey _was_ a sign of changing times. Given what he had discovered, he worried he knew what this new age would hold. Re-affirming his earlier decision, Myuu descended from the clouds to get a better look at his children. Seeing some of its descendants, a pod of oddish in this case, he decided he owed it to them to begin reaching out to each of them telepathically as he went by.

So on he traveled. He observed oddish and ekans. There were nidoran and farfetch’d too. Life in the open plains went here and there with its typical energy. Some slowed for a moment as they received a message in their head, but never for very long before continuing as before. The psychic too pressed forward, and he watched as grassland made way for multitudes of trees.


	3. Planting the Future

Over forested mountain range did Myuu fly. He passed pidgey and mankey and butterfree and more. Below, he saw a coal mine (Machoke and Diglett), and began to reminisce about what once was there. Typically, coal formed from trees buried during an era millions of years ago. And judging by the location, Myuu realized he remembered these trees in particular.

_It was, as was typical, a quite nice day. Sunlight shined down through ever more oxygenated atmosphere, keeping the surface comfortably warm. The arid landscape was a healthy brown, covered in an assortment of rocks and green shrubs. One might find that a pattern resembling this one repeated itself throughout very much of the surface of Groudon’s domain. What made this place special at this moment, one might observe, is the presence among the browns and greens of a spot of very light pink._

_Myuu lazed around on a rock. It was a comfy rock. Maybe he could make a comfy rock creature. That would be fun. Suddenly, he felt a twitch of displaced air. Teleportation. He perked up. It was Celebi._

_“Hey, Myuu! I wanna show you something!”_

_“What is it? Is itttt something cool I can give sentience?”_

_“No. Come on, I’ll show you.”_

_Myuu scrunched his face in thought._

_“Is it a cool rock?”_

_“Don’t be silly. Rocks can’t be cool.”_

_Myuu glared._

_“Oh look at me, I’m a rock! I last forever! But they’re **lying**! Obviously they’re just really hardy, not invulneruble. And they’re not alive so that they can’t heal themselves if they’re damaged. So they only look like they’re around forever if you watch them. If you **skip ahead** over and over again to keep seeing them at **much later times** , they clearly decay to nothing. Not like trees. Now come onnnnn.”_

_Together they flew. Eventually they reached an empty patch of land with a massive pile of tree nuts. Celebi giggled._

_“Look at me!”_

_Celebi pick the one on top, and then four of him appeared and picked up the next layer. Then nine. On and on it they came until every nut was held by a Celebi. They moved around until they made a nearly square grid above the land. 40 by 31._

_“Ready?” called one of those closest to the middle._

_“ **READY** ” answered the uncountable (or at least too many for Myuu to bother) others._

_As one, they dropped to the ground and began to dig holes with a minor use of Earth Power. As one they dropped their nuts. As one they filled the holes back up._

_“Only one thing left to do, Myuu!” announced a Celebi._

_“What’s that?”_

_Together the time travelers began to sing, “Rain, rain, come out and play! Splashy splashy all the way!”_

_All gathered began to giggle._

_“Okey-dokey,” replied the kitten, as he raised his paws. This wasn’t a job for Rain Dance (not to suggest that he couldn’t of course – he could use almost any Move he wanted). What was needed here was a real rainstorm – and telekinetically creating one wasn’t difficult with his phenomenal cosmic powers._

_As rain began to fall, the Celebi began to disappear. Soon only one remained._

_“…_ Sooooo _, did it work?”_

_“Last I checked, it will be there. Unless we changed something. I’m gonna go check. See ya now!”_

_The grass type vanished for a second before reappearing._

_“It worked!”_

_“can I see? I wanna see naow!”_

_“I’ll give you something even better!”_

_After another flash and Celebi held out something leaflike. But it was smoother than a leaf, and grown weirdly shaped. A closer look revealed there was something on it. It looked like a flat Celebi, floating in front of equally tall trees. How?_

_“It’s for you!”_

_“How did you get in there?”_

_“I didn’t, silly! It’s a future thing!”_

_“That’s so cool! I can’t wait for the future!”_

_“Yeah, its great! And I get to be there first! Haha haha ha.”_

_The kitten glared once more at his friend, and began to drift towards her. Suddenly, he felt a tap on his tail._

_“I got you first! You’re it!”_

_With that, Myuu began to chase after the nymph. ' Life is wonderful.'_

Many eras had passed since then. How long had it been since the ‘photograph’ Celebi gave him became had deteriorated to the point of unrecognizability? Eighty million years? One Hundred? He never got around to asking for a replacement ‘photo from the future’ and now there wouldn’t be another chance. In those days, events progressed slowly enough that Celebi could travel back and forth with things without changing anything. In recent times, small actions could cause the world to change over a single year. Celebi was typically “too busy to play” now, and too afraid of altering important events.

She had grown distant over the past hundred years or so. It was rare to interact for more than a few minutes. Myuu wasn’t stupid, of course. Celebi was a time traveler with all the time in the world. She couldn’t be “too busy”. But he’d noticed his best friend’s habit of shying away from others in the temporal vicinity of major catastrophes and other sad times of vast significance– possibly so that she didn’t have look others in the eye and pretend a tragedy would not soon occur, nor to face others who would be upset about what happened and that she knew and hadn’t interfered. Perhaps this - everything surrounding Myuutsuu, the immortal reflected, was what Celebi had been avoiding this time. It fit, certainly – no matter how much more abrupt the nymph’s aloofness had been. What happened on the island almost unquestionably marked the end of the paradigm. He wasn’t sure where he fit in what would replace it. That would be something to talk about when he arrived. And so he continued on.

He drifted downward momentarily to get a better look at the life in the forest. Below he saw pidgey and venonat, and pinsir. There were kakuna beedrill and more. Only the drowzee and hypno, psychic species so recently descended from the old baku, responded to his message as he passed, looking up at the sky with concern. When they spotted him, he gave them a half-hearted smile and squeak, and then resumed his journey.


	4. A Spark of Life

Soon Myuu passed over another dig site. The humans here (and assistant machoke and geodude) were not trying to discover resources, the psychic observed, but their own past. People were carrying artifacts and uncovering the remains of buildings. People lived here once, but no longer. There were a number of reasons they could have vanished, Myuu knew: changing climate, disease, human conflict, or maybe even a different sort rampaging creature. Perhaps it was destroyed by an upset Kami. Many of them had done such things in the past. Even him.

_The landscape was dotted with villages, clustered around a large city in turn overlooked by a massive stone tower. The humans here were proud of their civilization, their city’s sciences made them the center of the region, and their artificial guardians worked to ensure none would threaten them. Even dusk here, they claimed, was the prettiest in all the land. Tonight it would not be so. Torrential rain fell upon it all. Thunderclaps echoed the occasional bolt of lightning. Small Magnitude quakes shook the land, wakening light sleepers. Some may have wondered if they had angered the Forces of Nature (they couldn’t have, would be the response: their offerings were plentiful and truthfully, none of them can be seen).If any, be they human or magical creature, had looked skyward in the right direction, and had sharp enough vision, they may have noticed a small pink bubble just below the clouds._

_At the center of the bubble, an angry psychic looked down at the settlements and cried. He had come as soon as he had been informed of what had happened here, and was hurt to discover it to be true. “Why!?”asked Myuu to no-one in particular. “Why would you do that? Why would you think that’s okay!?! How could you!? Why!?” The sympathic quakes slowly increased in Magnitude as his anger did, while the rain intensified with his tears. Soil begins to heavily saturate with water. Birds flee their shaking nests. “Why!? You can’t take that!”-Myuu sobs – “How dare you!? That’s mine! Why!?” Rain begins to form into pools. Small structures begin to shake. Awake human minds can be sensed moving about. Whether the thieves can hear his telepathic screams, understand them, or are even responding to them, the psychic is too upset by now to consider. “Why!? Why did you take it from me!? That’s mine! With out it I’m-”_

_Even mentally, the sentence goes unfinished. What started as a sob morphs instead into a wordless scream. With that scream comes a thin pillar of light centered on the city. The pillar rapidly widens to encompass it all and then explodes. The light vanishes along with the quakes revealing the scale of the destruction. Many of the buildings in the surrounding villages are damaged beyond repair or simply collapsed. The city itself is destroyed entirely - only the nearby tower remains standing. Of the city’s inhabitants psychic awareness shows only a few survivors in the form of the blasphemous Ground/Ghost guardians._

_A few minute to register what he has wrought is all it takes to bring Myuu down to a rock below where he breaks down crying entirely. Half an hour passes before the clouds disperse. Calmer now, the psychic takes another look at the guardians. On second thought, he decides, the designs are quite admirable. The Ancestor gathers mounds of clay, turns his head back and forth, and then begins to assemble and mold and shape in ways both physical and arcane. At the end, a Spark is placed into its hollow core to bring it to life. Painted eyes glow and from within emerges the sound ‘Golett?’. Myuu smiles. “Hi Golett! I’m Myuu!”_

_Yes, thought Myuu. What they took from me is mine again. Perhaps destroying them_ did _turn everything to right. The world is as it should be. Life is wonderful. _

That human civilization had collapsed following the event, Myuu knew, and wouldn’t be rebuilt for many human lifetimes (vaguely, it remembered hearing rumors that the ones who had done so accomplished it with the assistance of a great dragon, but that was besides the point). It hadn’t been the first time Myuu had brought such destruction to humans who had stolen from it, nor the last. Without wishing it to, given what he had learned the past subjective day, he was struck by the possibility that nothing had been stolen and that it was he who had sinned. Down below, the psychic idly watched a moving truck come to a stop at the edge of the dig site. As a person emerged, Myuu found that he wasn’t angry at humans this time. Just confused and tired and a little scared. With a sigh, the mythical being continued on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, um, there's my explanation for the state of pre-unova being so wartorn when the two brothers along with Kyurem to unify it: Massive power vaccuum left behind by the sudden disappearance of rival hegemons between which most of Unova is located (the builders of Dragonspiral tower and Golett being destroyed by Mew and the canon "Protectors" civilization being sunk beneath the sea shortly after by their patron Meloetta after they ask for its (her?) help in taking advantage of the former civ's disappearance to conquer the entire region).


	5. Kami of Extinction

On and on the psychic went, over city and forests and crags. He spotted grimer and meowth; rattatta and sandshrew. There was even an occasional diglet too. He past magnemite and electabuzz meandering about a human structure that emanated electricity in both his physical and psychic sight. And beyond that the immortal past the mouth of a river, where slowpoke and psyduck lay.

It occurred to the psychic then that his path had gone as far over land as was reasonable: going any farther north – especially to take the time to visit The Tree - might waste more time than necessary. And it wasn’t like that place was a short way northwest from here to begin with. No, thought Myuu, he’d have to try to make time to return their after. Thus did he turn farther east, his flight path taking him over a cape. The edge of which, he saw, held a building with a round tower overlooking the cliff. He didn’t remember it last time he was here, but no matter.

Once more over open ocean, Myuu chose this time to dive within. Life abounded below the surface of the water. He waved at the schools of goldeen and magikarp as they went by. Northeast, Myuu swam, descending towards the seabed as he did.

A few minutes in, a massive shape passed by him, the being’s pupils dwarfing the psychic’s stature. It had been centuries, Myuu realized, since he last saw the giant dragonite. The last (so far as he knew) extant mortal to be modified in such a way by an ancient civilization that once lived here, the dragonite had still continued to grow since then and was quite clearly doing well. By all measures he was healthy and well fed. The dragon noticed him and smiled. Myuu responded by raising the edges of his mouth and sending the same brief telepathic greeting, before going on his way.

He drifted downward momentarily to get a better look at the life in the forest. Below he saw pidgey and venonat, and pinsir. There were kakuna beedrill and more. Only the drowzee and hypno, psychic species so recently descended from the old baku, responded to his message as he passed, looking up at the sky with concern. When they spotted him, he gave them a half-hearted smile and squeak, and then resumed his journey.

On and on the psychic went, over city and forests and crags. He spotted grimer and meowth; rattatta and sandshrew. There was even an occasional diglet too. He past magnemite and electabuzz meandering about a human structure that emanated electricity in both his physical and psychic sight. And beyond that the immortal past the mouth of a river, where slowpoke and psyduck lay.

It occurred to the psychic then that his path had gone as far over land as was reasonable: going any farther north – especially to take the time to visit The Tree - might waste more time than necessary. And it wasn’t like that place was a short way northwest from here to begin with. No, thought Myuu, he’d have to try to make time to return their after. Thus did he turn farther east, his flight path taking him over a cape. The edge of which, he saw, held a building with a round tower overlooking the cliff. He didn’t remember it last time he was here, but no matter.

Once more over open ocean, Myuu chose this time to dive within. Life abounded below the surface of the water. He waved at the schools of goldeen and magikarp as they went by. Northeast, Myuu swam, descending towards the seabed as he did.

A few minutes in, a massive shape passed by him, the being’s pupils dwarfing the psychic’s stature. It had been centuries, Myuu realized, since he last saw the giant dragonite. The last (so far as he knew) extant mortal to be modified in such a way by an ancient civilization that once lived here, the dragonite had still continued to grow since then and was quite clearly doing well. By all measures he was healthy and well fed. The dragon noticed him and smiled. Myuu responded by raising the edges of his mouth and sending the same brief telepathic greeting, before going on his way.

Deeper, Myuu plunged, passing horsea and tentacool and staryu. Three species make way for five for ten for twenty and so on as he goes lower. This, all this is what he is for, Myuu thinks, as he travels along the continental shelf. He watches as numerous arrays of species pass by him. Some Myuu had created or modified himself, while others mutated into new forms on their own. Few of them were of the various original species to populate the area, he remembered. Most species didn’t last forever. This was the way of things - that only the fittest survived. As much as he didn’t like it, he knew it was inevitable. He had learned that long ago.

_To descend deeper into Kyogre’s realm, beyond the continental shelf, is to steadily enter a zone of twilight and then one of darkness. It is to lose sight of the sun; to lose its warmth. This is a forbidding realm where food is rare, and every calorie counts. The mortal denizens at this depth, some four thousand Myuu lengths or more below the surface, in the open ocean are few and far between, and most know nothing of the sun above. Yet if one were instead to reach these depths by following the downward slope of the ocean floor, one might instead encounter places of great heat and life. From fissures in the ground, geothermally heated water and minerally rich smoke jet upward. Multitudes congregate around such vents, depending on them like lightless suns. Even here none can see, though typically it matters not. Above one such vent, however, this would not be so. Among those feeding off the smoke are individuals of a species that is new. And if one were to Flash a light upon it, one would observe a small bubble rising above it. One might even have heard a giggle._

_Myuu reached out with his mind to take hold of his bubble, and pushed downward. As he pushed, so did he and his containing bubble descend. Down they sunk until the sphere sat on the mouth of the fissure. The Psychic smiled as he felt the pressure of the blocked vent oppose his own. Soon, thought Myuu as he waited. A minute later, he smirked and let go. The bubble exploded upwards, the immortal laughing all the while. Not a moment passed after Myuu came to a stop that he descended back to the vent again for another go. Again and again, he rode the vent, until his extrasensory awareness noted the approach of another powerful mind._

_“I should ask what you are doing.” Came the mental greeting of the newcomer. _

_“Waiting for Kyogre to show up around here. I want to show it this new species I made! Isn’t it so cool? I know Kyogre comes by here from time to time, so thought I could play here for a while while I wait. …I haven’t seen it for a while though. Do you know where Kyogre is? Can you tell me Uxie? Pleeeaseee?”_

_“It is apparent that you do not remember” stated the other. “Kyogre and Groudon were locked away again.”_

_“ **Again**? What happened this time?”_

_“They encountered each other again. And as always that leads to catastrophe, you_ know _this. They have, with some exceptions, long since fulfilled their purposes anyway. Their active presence is no longer necessary. It has been judged that they shall remain asleep until needed once more.”_

_“…oh. ” started Myuu, before perking up. “Okay! I guess I’ll wait until Kyogre is awake again to show my creation!”_

_“Myuu… I do not think that the species will still be around by then.”_

_“What do you mean, not around?”_

_“It will be a long time before they reawaken. Eventually you’ll create enough new, fitter, species that will hunt or out-compete it or the ecosystem will change such that extant species will do the same until this species dies out.”_

_Myuu scowled. “Nuh-uh. I’ll just stop creating **any** new species that interact with this biome until they’re back!”_

_“I don’t believe you. I don’t think you will.”_

_“Yuh huh! I can be patient! Even if it takes ten million years!”_

_Myuu could almost_ feel _a projected ‘raised eyebrow’ when Uxie flatly stated “if you say so.”_

_The Ancestor responded to that by sticking out his tongue in the direction of the Master of Memories, who then promptly vanished._

_‘Who did that know-it-all think it was – saying I couldn’t be patient?’ Thought Myuu. He’d show him. Really! Even if it took ten million years! It was then that he remembered the continued presence of radiating heat. At that, the psychic returned to his fun. Life, Myuu thought as his bubble erupted upwards, is wonderful. _

He had been correct, in the end, about his capacity for patience. The Ancestor had held back – _lessened himself_ – from bringing forth anything new in most all of the ocean (most of anywhere really, given the era) as he waited for Groudon and Kyogre to re-emerge. Centuries had gone by, then millennia, then ages. It had been arguably the greatest act of self-control he had ever made. Eventually, the waiting finally passed a thousand millennia. He had happily refuted Uxie’s doubts over his capabilities.

But Uxie too was correct, however. With that victory, his willpower had begun to falter. His resistance had worn out not a century later. Play had grown boring. Too many ideas had developed over that time. They weren’t showing up. Even with Azelf’s occasional help (by that point the only one of the other kami to support this self-denial), he could no longer do it. And so it was that his pent up imagination exploded into one act of speciation after another. It was not long before Uxie’s predictions came to pass, and without noticing Myuu had allowed that gift of a species to fall into extinction. By the time the psychic had become aware of this fact, he had found that he had forgotten the species’ design. Kyogre, when next it briefly woke, never saw it.

Myuu had resolved then to create a sanctuary of sorts where those species he couldn’t bear losing could live on for eternity. That project had taken many geological epochs of work and experimentation. He had tried caves and isolated lakes but those didn’t last with time nor were they certain to keep outside predators from swimming in. Massive psychic shields constant maintenance. His success at bringing his descendants onto land added further complications. With Arcy and Uxie’s help he learned to call upon the power of the unown. Experimentation had abounded then, much to the reclusive and antisocial Giratina’s chagrin. Failed prototype after failed prototype had been tried. Enchanted caves and runaway time bubbles. Finally, based on a comment by Celebi, he had landed on a solution.

An enormous rock formation like an oversized tree it was, combining the physical and metaphysical perks of both. Great Unown spells brought it to something resembling life, with its own internal immune system and temperature control - and stabilized by binding its ‘life-force’ to his own. Just as he was immortal and unchanging with time, so would it. It had been improved over the years: the enchantments had been made more efficient, a Celebi provided plant network drawing nutrients from the shared life-force embedded The Tree in time, and the Regis had been provided as gifts much later on. The structure had been developed just in time to rescue a number of variants of anorith from a major mass extinction.

Major flaws existed to the implementation, of course. Binding one’s life force in mutual symbiosis also had downsides. There were times over the ages when external threats had damaged The Tree and him with it, requiring transfusions of aura to heal them both (Once upon a time, it was Arcy who had done so for him. Arcy was gone now, and the transfusions typically fatal to the aura adepts who did so in the Original One's stead). But there had never been a scenario where the damage went the other way, the psychic remembered. Myuu didn’t know what the outcome of the recent battle would have been had it not been interrupted. How fit was he really, compared to Myuutsuu? If something were to happen to him, how long would The Tree survive? He didn’t want to think about it. The psychic sighed and moved on.


	6. Masters of this World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of this may have been better suited as part of the previous chapter, or as a chapter of its own, but it is too late for the former, and I have no idea what the title would be for the latter.

North Myuu swam. He swam past schools and pods and shoals and beds and blooms. Some of those he swam past were known by humans, and many more weren’t. However humans knew them, in his eyes the species were all the same. They were his cherished creations, his beloved children, his bestest friends. And most all of them were slated to inevitably die from the moment of their origin. It could be by environmental shifts, or mutating until they no longer resembled their former selves, or (indirectly) by chance or his own will – outcompeted with other newer beings. Some were older like those relicanth, or younger like those wailord, but it was all the same. And among those Myuu passed, there were a few he saw and knew for certain to be obsolete – the ‘swimming dead’ – already. Whether they would be gone in a century or millennium or more or less, he was not sure, but they were doomed to extinction nonetheless. Such was the way of things, the replacement of the older and feebler by the newer and fitter. He was more familiar with this than anyone. In this new era that Myuutsuu signaled, would this cycle slow or accelerate? He knew not. The transience of their existence was no reason to ignore those around him. By any metric, the opposite was true.

The underwater journey continued for what might have been minutes or hours (divisions of time invented by humans, Celebi had told him) as he reached out to the minds of each and every species he passed, and he paid no attention to its duration. The time he spent in almost all of his travels was a matter only of his whim. This one would be no exception. His host was patient.

Soon the seabed began to ascend and he climbed with it. The water brightened as he rose, both from the light above and the species he encountered, and Myuu sent his greetings to them telepathically in turn as he went by (“…chinchou and lantern…..finneon and lumineon…..clamperl…..magikarp and gyarodos…”). After little time at all, the surface raced towards him.

There were complex minds above on land, ones he wished not to be seen by. With but a thought, the psychic wrapped itself in a shell of invisibility before bursting into the air near the shore. The setting sun illuminated all those (save the psychic) gathered here (“…shellos and gastrodon…….wingull and pelipper…”). Aquatic (and flying) beings were not the only beings in (or above) the sea; he noted human swimmers too. Rising further into the sky, Myuu saw that even more humans were on the shore itself, eating or relaxing or hunting (with one of those tools of theirs) or playing.

Humanity always seemed to have an interest in Kyogre’s realm; he could well remember a group that took such interest as to build a great temple where Manaphy would live and the people would visit and celebrate. That temple had been fun and wonderful while it was inhabited. But all things come to an end. No longer did the ‘Prince of the Sea’ live there, and the People of the Water went there no more. ‘Were these people descendants of Manaphy’s scattered people?’, he wondered, or simply more of the same. He didn’t know what had happened to them since then. “Human cultures are kinda like species,” Meloetta once told him: “They live and flourish and mutate and propagate in their niche –human minds – and compete with one another for space and (mental) resources.” Had those tied to Manaphy survived till now as a distinct culture? Had they assimilated into the larger society? Were it necessary for the Tree to shut down, could he be certain of the survival of those tied to him? He would need time later to consider this, but his destination awaited him. The only way to go now was landward.

Once more Myuu crossed the threshold onto land. Once more he flew over grassland (“…budew and roselia…girafirig...stunky and stunktank…”). Grassland once more made way for forest (“…sudowoodo…..hoothoot and noctowl…..seedot and nuzleaf and shiftry…). And almost as soon as the landscape turned sub montane, it was immediately dominated by human influence.

The forest below was split by a great canyon. By all rights such a thing would be almost impossible to cross for those bound to the ground, and yet right there was a great metal bridge of clear human make spanning from one side to the other and connecting human paths on either side. The path led into a vast clearing and continued until it reached a large foothill city. Tall cylindrical towers arose throughout and expelled steam into the sky. Large metal mining tools moved about at the bottom of a cliff face. But what struck Myuu most about the sunset illuminated human settlement as he looked upon it (and had so each time he had seen one over the past many years) was how the insides of many of the buildings stayed brightly illuminated, and how the tops of small poles in various places throughout the settlement automatically began emitting light. Within their homes, and perhaps to a lesser extent within their entire city, night would not come until they chose otherwise. Where they lived, a facet of nature that governed the activities of all living things was effectively at their command. It was not always this way. They had come so far in their use of tools.

_The grassland was calm as the dawn came. It was filled with life in various shapes and sizes. Its awakening inhabitants ate and the youth played. There was nothing out of the ordinary here, except for the presence of five levitating immortals. Together they traveled: the ever excited Myuu, the majestic Arceus, and the cerebral triplets – the latter three sticking close to their creator as if dutiful courtiers. Soon they came upon a large hill, then stopped in anticipation of what awaited them. “They can make no effort to see us unless we wish otherwise,” said one of the triplets. “Even if they do see us, they will not remember it,” said the second. “Even if they do remember us, they will not care” said the last. With that, they continued. _

_Up and over the hill they flew. Down below on the other side was a band of mostly hairless bipeds. They were of varying size, not entirely conforming to the traditional two stage, or even three stage morphological pattern. At the center of the band’s territory sat a small flame atop mostly burnt remains of wood. Spread throughout were structures made of branches and grass large enough for such creatures to fit inside. Stone shards sat on the ground or in the creatures’ hands._

_Arceus spoke then and said “Humans. They are the pinnacle of all Creation.”_

_The Being of Willpower proclaimed: “They hold the greatest capacity for willpower of any mortal species. Their drives to succeed may allow them to overcome any obstacle.”_

_The Being of Emotion rejoiced: “Their range of emotions is second to none! Their ability to form many lasting bonds may allow them levels of teamwork never seen before.”_

_The Being of Knowledge was silent for a moment, as was its nature. Then, with calm deliberation, it articulated: They hold great ingenuity. With their intelligence they will one day become the masters of this world._

_They all looked at Uxie then. “What!?” Demanded Arceus. The master of memories replied only: “It is an observation on the range of abilities they will learn.” This mollified the Original One, who nodded in understanding._

_Myuu began to drone them out, more interested in the activities of the humans below. He watched a group of children –all between three and four times his height- run around and play. They were fleeing one of their number. They were, Myuu realized, playing tag. Tag, a game that invented across species. It was among other things a simulation of predator-prey dynamics, one that used competition and the drive to succeed to promote the players’ skills in both roles, while paradoxically strengthening the bonds of those who played together._

_The psychic watched as a smaller child, little more than twice his size, approached the group. “I wanna play too.” The small child said excitedly. The child- in-the-role-of-predator (The psychic looked closer in both first and second sight. Female? Yes) stopped to look at grinned at the little one then began approaching it. “Okay,” said the elder. Then she poked the younger and said “You’re it!” and ran off. The new predator (this one was male) smiled adorably and spoke to confirm his new position “I’mmm It!” and began to chase._

_But the predator-child was much younger and smaller than the prey-children, and try as he might, he continued to fail to get even close to tagging another. Myuu watched as the youth grew dejected at his inability to compete with the others. Eventually, The child slowed to a stop. This, the psychic decided, was as good a reason to interact with any. Why should one of the humans, having just been heaped with praise, be subjected to any misery at all? He would cheer him up himself._

_Myuu allowed his illusory concealment to be cast away from the minds of the children, and then flew down towards the youth. The human stared at him as he descended to face the child at eye level. The youth sniffled. “what…what are you?”._

_The immortal giggled and squeaked, then rotated itself about the child’s line of sight, until the left eye looked into the child’s left eye and the right into right. They stared at each other for a moment, then another, then a third, and then the sadness and confusion on the child’s face softened into amusement. Taking that as a cue, the psychic drifted closer for a moment in order to poke the child’s forehead with his nose. Then the psychic receded and began to giggle. The child joined him._

_“You’re funny!” said the child. Another moment of silence passed between them as they looked at each other. The psychic watched as his face scrunched up in thought before stretching into a large grin. And then the child poked him. “You’rrrre….it!” The youth ran._

_Watching the child flee, Myuu remembered where he was and decided to look up at his friends for approval. The four noticed his attention, and the master of this world nodded. Permission granted, he began to chase the youth. ‘....Master of this world’, he thought. The psychic was reminded then of Uxie’s statement of praise. ‘But they can’t be the masters of this world? That’s Arcy’s role.’_

_To be ‘it’ when chasing a young child, one’s job is not to tag them, but to allow them to stay just out of reach – to allow them the ability to grow their agility and confidence both. Myuu accepted that role with eagerness as the youth happily ran before him. And all the while, his inner thoughts continued: ‘That’s Arcy’s niche. He’s filled it forever and ever and ever (or at least for a very long time).’ The chase arced about the children’s play-site. They travelled between larger, adult, humans who watched both amused and bewildered as a lone excited toddler ran by them. ‘-and he hasn’t needed anyone’s help at being in charge (sure there are the other kami that have been delegated to, but none of us are “masters of this world”). There doesn’t seem to be room for anyone else in that niche: he’d render anyone else obsolete. It would be him or them.’_

_At the edge of his attention, Myuu barely heard Arceus when he pronounced in a voice audible only to the gathered immortals that “I judge what I see to be good.” So too did he barely notice, out of the corner of his eye, when the Original One promptly flew away. His attention was primarily on other things: ‘But if Uxie said they would be, and if there isn’t room for both, then that means **he** won’t be, doesn’t it?’ Moving faster and faster, the pair began to approach the older tag-playing children from an oblique angle. Some even slowed as they noticed the psychic. ‘But that’s silly, isn’t it? _ _Arcy is super duper powerful and no human could even possibly be as strong as he is.’_

_The Kami of New Species remembered the rest of the triplets’ praises. And, he noted, Uxie had said “Master **S** ” not “Master”. Too focused on his thoughts, he forgot that he wasn’t trying to tag the child. The youth did not slow down upon being tagged, however, but instead continued forward ever faster. The nearby children scattered when they noticed the approach of the accelerating youth, but through force of determination the small human managed to catch the one closest to him. “You’rrrre…it!”_

_  
The new It laughed at this and then noticed the watching floating creature behind the one who tagged her. “Was that thing chasing you?” She asked him. “Uh huh!” came the confirmation. “Well then lets see if we can catch it back.” Outwardly, the immortal giggled at this and then began to flee the new and previous Its – as well as the growing group of children that he psychically perceived joining in. Inwardly, the thought process had continued unabated: ‘but…but even if they could achieve anything by working together, even if they could fill that niche, that would mean Arcy won’t have a role any more - that he wouldn’t be necessary, but that would be impossible: none of this would be achievable without Arcy.’ But, remembered Myuu, that had been true of others too._

_Finally, he could no longer bear the thought. The psychic turned back and waved at the children, before teleporting back into the triplets’ midst._

_“Yes?” Asked Mesprit, feeling Myuu’s concern “What is it?” Asked Azelf, noting the urgent suddenness of Myuu’s teleportation. “You are uncertain,” perceived Uxie. _

_Myuu stared at the latter. “Uxie, you said they’d be the masters of this world. But...but that’s Arcy’s job. Are they gonna replace Arcy? Is he gonna disappear too?” Shock from Mesprit and Azelf greeted that statement. “I am horrified you’d even consider that!” said Mesprit. “Of course that would never happen!”, started Azelf, “I refuse to believe otherwise.” Uxie was not so urgent to respond. They all turned towards the final triplet. “Worry not.” it said, “Events will play out as they must.” Myuu nervously responded “are you sure?” “when have I ever been wrong, in the end?” The Being of Knowledge said no more before vanishing._

_Soothed by Uxie’s reassurance, Myuu teleported back to his new friends, and began to play with them once more. The immortal giggled when one of them managed to catch his tail. ‘Life is wonderful’._

They’d all been right about humans. They were glorious. Scary sometimes, sure. But they always had such cool toys. There was not a dull moment with them as they were always doing something new. Most all the newer cohorts of his peers existed with them in mind. Rarely ever did he dwell on the fact that all of this was once true about himself.

Uxie’s prediction about them had been right then too. And thus, so had Myuu’s fears. Humanity had begun to spread across the world, building itself and its civilizations up greater and greater. And then, one day --many millennia ago-- Arceus vanished. Like so many before him. Myuu had spent decades looking for his mentor once he noticed his absence, but never could a trace be found. And even after all these years, the Original One had never returned.

Since then humanity has slowly taken his place. The world as it is now was their creation. They could command every type, either directly or via proxy. Groudon was gone, and they shaped whatever land they lived on to their whim. Kyogre was gone and they had begun to lay claim to the sea. They had tools that could distort space, and from Celebi’s occasional half-hearted complaints even time could not contain them. And life….

Myuu held back a sob. No, he thought to himself, now is not the time for that. Then the psychic Calmed his Mind. Where was he? Oh yes. The psychic flew northeast over the city as he approached the mountain.


End file.
